Ten of the Best #124

And before we begin, could we just have a shout out for World  Chocolate Day, please?

We're going to start with a World Cup themed clip. Have you learned to Neymar yet?

The difference between watching The World Cup in the US and most other places in the world.

Friday Books - Someone by Alice McDermott

I love Fridays. Not least because we get to visit each other's blogs and see what everyone else is reading.

At Book Beginnings, hosted by Rose City Reader, you share the first line, and  a few thoughts about the book.

Today I'm featuring Someone by Alice McDermott. Here's the beginning.

I've had to read and re-read a lot of the first chapter. I just kept feeling as if I'd missed so much. Eventually on about page 40, I stopped doing that, and now it's going more smoothly. Fortunately it's a little book, so I'm sure I won't take that long to finish.

At Freda's Voice, you'll find the Friday56, where the excerpt comes from page 56 or 56% in your Kindle.

Here's page 56.

I'm only this far into the book. I particularly love this scene between Mary and her mother.  What do you think? Would you keep reading?

What are you reading this weekend?  Leave me a comment with what you're featuring and I'll check it out.

Book Club Books #2 2018

Are you buying a book for Book Club, and looking for a recommendation? Maybe you're buying them all this month? Here's a handy guide - the seven I've enjoyed recently that you should be able to locate at your local book store.

If you click the cover, you'll get my full review, if you want to know more. On this page I've summarised them all. Don't forget to come back to check out the rest.

The Alice Network was written by New York Times bestseller, Kate Quinn. It's set just after WWII, and before you roll your eyes - yes it is about that War, particularly about a group of women - The Alice Network - who spy for the Allies. Kate writes about history as if it were your favourite TV series. By that, I mean addictively. Read the review, you'll see what I mean.

Swedish writers, a series of crimes committed by a family. It all started with The Father. I cannot begin to tell you how much I liked this book. And it was my most popular review last month - it seemed to hit a nerve. It doesn't get much better than this.

You've seen the movie (the trailer, not the whole thing, if you're me), but have you thought about reading the book. I promise it is not about ballet. Written by an ex-CIA operative (for 33 years), it's about Dominika Egorova, a Sparrow and Nathaniel Nash, an American spy. Unputdownable - it may just be as good as The Father.

And now for something completely different. I loved The Beach Cafe. It's the perfect holiday and Book Club read. Lucy Diamond has written a few of these, and she's a hit. In this one, Evie inherits Aunt Jo's coffee shop next to the ocean. Should she, shouldn't she keep it? It's a fun, feel-good afternoon tea kind of book.

Every Note Played is the story of Richard, who was married to Karina. He isn't anymore. He's also a famous concert pianist, except now he has ALS (the ice bucket challenge disease) so he isn't that either. Lisa Genova  wrote Still Alice. She also studied  neuroscience. She knows her way around this stuff, and this book is brilliant.

Hannah Kent? Yes - The Burial Rites, remember? This is as good. It must be, it's about The Good People. Haha. Seriously though, you're in excellent hands here. The Good People is about a village raising a child, or trying to. In 1825, in County Kerry, Ireland, when life was hard, and loved ones died. All the time. Nóra Leahy knows. She's lost a husband and a daughter and four-year-old Micheál is her grandson - the one she must care for. He fits and rages, can't walk or talk. This is a beautiful book, written superbly.

Last one, I promise. Dictator is timely, relevant and wonderfully readable. Yes it is about Caesar, and the Roman Empire and his rule. It's also written from the perspective of Cicero's personal assistant - Tiro, and he was quite a man himself. Responsible for inventing shorthand, and staying out of trouble (no mean feat in those times) , and transcribing his famous master's eloquence, this is a delight. It's also part three of a trilogy, but who needs to read history in order? It happened, we know the spoilers.

That's my pile. Hope you find some books you love, and if you're also having dinner, DON'T FORGET TO TALK ABOUT THE BOOKS!

Have fun.

The last round of recommendations, and some more books here.

Best books of 2017.

All the 2018 books

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

This book popped up everywhere. It kept being recommended to me on Goodreads, I saw it on other blogs, a friend read it, so when I saw it on special online for one day only, of course I snapped it up.

It didn't help that I'd just read Red Sparrow and The Father, both of which whet my appetite for a good crime thriller.

And because I hate spoilers, all I'm going to tell you about the story line is that Richard the hedge fund manager is about to marry Nellie, the pre-school teacher, whose best friend is Sam.

Vanessa is Richard's ex. And she's watching, drowning her sorrows and hating her job as a sales assistant at Saks. 

I enjoyed this one - the writing was good. Here are some excerpts.

“Gaze detection, it’s called—our ability to sense when someone is observing us. An entire system of the human brain is devoted to this genetic inheritance from our ancestors, who relied on the trait to avoid becoming an animal’s prey.”

“She is oblivious to what I have done to her. She is unaware of the damage I have wrought; the ruin I have set in motion. To this beautiful young woman with the heart-shaped face and lush body-the woman my husband Richard, left me for-I'm as invisible as the pigeon scavenging on the sidewalk next to me. She has no idea what will happen to her if she continues like this. None at all.”

Yet, if you've had a similar experience to me - been recommended this book, that is - the 'selling point' is those twists you 'won't see coming'. Here's the thing. I don't really read a book for the twists. 'Assume nothing' says the blurb. I never do. I don't even really try to guess, because I'm not very good at it. And here's the thing about this book. The twists didn't really make it, they almost messed it up. Like the authors tried a little too hard to make the twists so good, they forgot about the story, which wasn't bad.

Now you're curious, aren't you? Well, read the book. It's a quick and easy read, once you've persevered a little.

3 stars

ISBN: 9781250130921

You may also enjoy Peter Swanson's The Kind Worth Killing, or My Husband's Wife by Jane Corry.

More books.

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

The Alice Network starts in 1949, just after the end of the second world war. Charlie St. Clair is on a break from college, pregnant, and with her mother, an upstanding beacon of American society, and determined to help sort out 'the problem'. As they get closer to their European destination, Charlie keeps seeing her cousin, Rose, who disappeared during the war, and who Charlie believes may still be  alive.

The series of clues she has already uncovered take her to Eve Gardiner, who's got her own set of war stories. She was there, part of The Alice Network, a group of female spies active in WW2.

The 500 or so pages take us on a nostalgic and sometimes hilarious journey, back to the war days, back to France and the remnants and remains of the devastation. It's obvious that Eve must confront all her internal ravages, although she seems determined not to. Finn, the Scottish driver/butler/general assistant provides most of the comic relief, and he is delightful. The book races towards the astonishing and satisfying conclusion.

This book needs a violence, sex and language warning. It's graphic, and hectic, and sensitive readers will need to close their eyes/skip some passages. However, I felt it was highly appropriate for the times. In my opinion, too much of history, especially when women are written about, is easily glossed over, readily moved on from, so that the battles can be described, and the "real action" told. The truth is, there were other stories too, and what I enjoyed about these ones was seeing how they changed the course of history. Readers who tell me they've "had enough of reading WW2 stories" will be missing out if they don't read this one.

Alice Quinn has written a lot. About ancient Rome (The Empress of Rome series), The Borgias, and some collaborative works, which include Troy, Pompeii and more ancient history. I've loved all I've read so far. She has a real talent for making history come alive, for seeing the story and elaborating it, and telling it in a way that I like to read it. 

Here's the book trailer for this one, which is my second favourite so far.

5 stars

ISBN: 9780062654199

You may also enjoy Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate or The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.

More books.

Just like this

Morning, peeps.

Time to get up. Yes, I know it's freezing. It's just going to get colder this week. And harder to run. So let's do this.

Why? You've forgotten. I know, it's easy to, when you're snuggled up in bed, and I'm trying to encourage you to get up and go somewhere. Here are the top ten reasons. They're good, but I see you not clicking, so I'll summarize:

Healthy you - running is good for your physical health, especially your heart and your strength, but even your immune system and your endurance.

Happy you - it clears the stress, and increases your confidence. You may even lose some weight.

Brainy you - it makes your brain connect the neurons better, and have you never experienced that "I can solve the world's problems" moment while you're working out? That invincibility? Come on, you need to. Today.

And here's our music. It's just for fun. Coldplay and the Chainsmokers - Something just like this.

I love the lyrics.

"I've been reading books of old
The legends and the myths
Achilles and his gold
Hercules and his gifts
Spiderman's control
And Batman with his fists
And clearly I don't see myself upon that list
But she said, "Where d'you wanna go?
How much you wanna risk?
I'm not looking for somebody
With some superhuman gifts.
Some superhero,
Some fairytale bliss.
Just something I can turn to.
Somebody I can kiss.
I want something just like this."

And then, as in every great song, it goes "Doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo"

Take a listen. Then come with us.

Last Monday's motivation.

Some more (updated).

Ten of the Best #123

Good morning everyone! Here's to a fabulous weekend. It's sure to be, if you start here, catching up on what you missed on social media.

Click on the pictures for the links, and come back for more.

Seen it? Keep scrolling...

Trevor Noah on the Sarah Huckabee Sanders incident - where she was asked to leave a restaurant. Whatever happened to tolerance? Indeed.

Just one more reason to LOVE Susan Sarandon.

This shocked me. Elizabeth Warren isn't a reporter, or a journalist. She is a US senator from Massachusetts.

I read this the other day, and found it disturbing - anyone else? Whatever happened to the student activism at Rhodes?

Cracked vases, broken families, changed stories and restoration. I love the quote - "Feel the fear and take action anyway".

Jamie, the very worst missionary on what being a missionary really is. And what it isn't.

I love these photos  - 'through the lens  of David Goldblatt', who passed away earlier this month.

You Woke? Tracey Ullman does her thing. 

Ed Sheeran performed at Wembley. and when he got to this song, you'll never guess who he called on stage. Yes - Andrea Bocelli. Marvellous.

And here's the Tweet of the week. Yes, of course it's about a cat. There's no link.

That's your Ten. We'll sign out with a heart warmer, though. Katie got married. She's 23, and she already has 13 daughters. Before getting married. Scandalous. And beautiful.

Have a fun weekend, everyone.

Last week's Ten.

Some more.

Friday Books - The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

It's usually great fun on a Friday to check out other book bloggers' shares and enjoy quotes from the books they are reading. 


At Book Beginnings, hosted by Rose City Reader, you share the first line, and  a few thoughts about the book.

Today I'm featuring The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. Here's the beginning.

This doesn't get you into the book, but the start is basically a family - Mom, Dad and Leni, relocating to Alaska. It's Leni's countless school change, and she's done done done. That's relevant for the Friday56...

(At Freda's Voice, you'll find the Friday56, where the excerpt comes from page 56 or 56% in your Kindle.)

Here's page 56.

I'm only this far into the book, and enjoying it so far. What do you think? Would you keep reading?

What are you reading this weekend?  Leave me a comment with what you're featuring and I'll check it out.

Daughters of Rome by Kate Quinn

Part of the series, The Empress of Rome. Book 2 in fact, although chronologically this one's first, and you don't have to read them in order. I'm tearing through - Empress of the Seven Hills is next.

The period in history here is the year of Four Emperors. Yet the novel starts with the four Cornelias - Cornelia, Lollia, Diana and Marcella. They're all so different, such distinct characters, with passions for everything from wealth to slaves, to horses and history.

It's a violent time, Emperors not being elected for their 'soft skills', but instead for being wily, on the right side and mostly, not getting killed in the fray.

Ms. Quinn brings the drama to the forefront. You'll find yourself tearing through Roman amphitheatres and fora, running like a slave girl to the next meeting place,  stopping for a drink at the marble fountain, to find it's filled with wine for the evening festivities. It's that kind of book. History has never been more fun, nor more riveting. The purists may prefer a little more seriousness for their dip into the past, but this is my cup of tea. Tell me the gossip about who is likely to overthrow whom while I'm enjoying my visit to the baths, on my way to meet with some other conspirators - in secret, of course.

The pace is dramatic and there are almost too many events to fit into a single novel, never mind a single year. 

A well-written, engaging story.
ISBN:9781868428724

4 stars

You may also enjoy Mistress of Rome, also by Kate Quinn. Or what about Robert Harris's Imperium?

More books.

Every Note Played by Lisa Genova

Richard is arrogant, opinionated, selfish and the type of person nobody should marry. He's also a successful concert pianist - playing all the great venues and classical gigs across the world. No mean feat. He met and fell in love with Karina in college, and she with him, and they have a daughter, Grace. In typical fashion of the times, Karina - the more talented according to all their professors -  sacrificed her potential future, her playing, everything. She taught a few students to keep busy, and also kept flexible for the sake of Richard's career. They're now divorced, Grace is in college and he's moved on, Karina not so much. Until he gets ALS. The ice-bucket disease.

"An accomplished concert pianist, Richard received standing ovations from audiences all over the world in awe of his rare combination of emotional resonance and flawless technique. Every finger of his hands was a finely calibrated instrument, dancing across the keys and striking each note with exacting precision. That was eight months ago.

Richard now has ALS, and his entire right arm is paralyzed. His fingers are impotent, still, devoid of possibility. The loss of his hand feels like a death, a loss of true love, a divorce—his divorce.

He knows his left arm will go next."

And that's the BLURB, people.

We all know Lisa Genova can write about facing down horrific diseases as if she had experienced them herself - if we haven't read Still Alice, we've seen the movie. But this book was outstanding not only for that aspect, and for all the musical references, which I loved, and couldn't get enough of. It was the personalities. Richard didn't suddenly become someone he hadn't been, just because he was now ill. It was interesting contrasting his unwilling sacrifices with Karina's, and seeing this horrid, awful disease change both of their lives. We also meet Bill, the humorous and gay carer, who is angelic and naughty as hell, and a complete delight.

And in the blubbering, soggy, heart-wrenching mess that I became at the end of this book, I realised I'd learned -not only about devastating ALS, but also about relationships, forgiveness, love and mercy. Because no one deserves ALS, or to love someone who gets it.

5 stars

ISBN:9781476717807

You may also enjoy Still Alice by Lisa Genova or The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth.

More books.